Just like the episode two weeks ago, this had tons of great things: character development, many engaging plot lines, and a series of curve balls. But, we’ll get to those in a bit.

First off, in response to Chase calling Dexter’s house, he sent Harrison to live with his grandparents and moved Lumen in with him. Meanwhile all of the Miami police department began searching for Cole Harmon, as the barrel girls case was now green lit once again.

Lumen and Dexter then visited Emily Birch, the women whose blood Chase carries around. She was rather reluctant to talk, but opened up to Lumen later on. It was then that we learned that Emily was the very first victim – the test case if you will. She told Lumen all about what happened to her, as well as the identity of the final man in the photo, Alex Tildon and that the chubby boy in the photo was Chase (whose real name is Eugene Greer).

At Corman’s house, Deb found not only blood (left over from when Lumen saved Dexter’s life), but Quinn found a set of 13 DVDs detailing exactly what happened to the girls. I am rather thankful for the producers/writers for not showing us the extremely graphic content on those discs, as other shows would have. That isn’t to say that we didn’t get glimpses as well as long stretches of audio, but that was for the best. The combination of both audio and video most likely would have been too much for most viewers. But no matter what, what these guys did was monstrous, and it showed the viewers exactly what evil is on this show. While Dexter may live his life in the morally gray area, these guys are dark.

Dexter, thinking quick on his feet, swapped the 13th disc (the one featuring Lumen) for a blank one in evidence. But, the sole fact that there was another disc, put Deb on a path to believe that there is a survivor and that she is exacting revenge on the people who did it to her.

All the while, Liddy was continuing being a real ass. He installed bugging equipment in Dexter’s house, and heard snippets of what they were planning, along with Lumen and Dexter preparing to kill Alex. Lumen had said that she wanted to be the one to do it, and Dexter agreed! Huge moment, as no one has actually done it before on the show.

The scene between Emily and Chase was really creepy, and she seems to have some sort of blind devotion to him. And Chase … the more we learn about him the more awful he seems to be. Not only does he not actually touch the girls, but he uses the other guys to hurt the girls. In a way, that makes him worse that Dan the dentist, Boyd, Alex or Cole.

The whole scenario between Dexter and Lumen killing Alex, and the possibility that Deb and Quinn might catch them was well done. But, of all the parts of the episode, the single greatest moment was Lumen actually killing Alex. Julia Styles continues to do great work this season, and does not disappoint.

And now we come to the ending, with no words being spoken, when Dexter and Lumen have sex. While we all knew this was coming, it felt natural for the characters to be there at that moment.

Their relationship has actually been one of the greatest things, at least for me, of the season. And it is looking less and less likely that they will kill her off, as they do with most guest stars, and I hope they keep her around. The little touches between Dexter and Lumen were great – Dexter buying gloves for her, calling her “prefect” in her kill uniform, and Lumen telling Dexter that “You’ve been my only way through this.”

They make a nice serial killer couple, don’t they?

Dexter said in best at the end of the episode – “With Lumen, I’m someone different. In her eyes, I’m not a monster at all.”

This episode, filled with amazing character moments, some true suspense and the consummation of Lumen and Dexter’s relationship, I give it 9.5 blood-stain slides out of ten for

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